This past week I had the honor of traveling to both Barcelona and Málaga, Spain to conduct pastors’ training sessions. Other than pastoring our church, there’s no work that’s more fulfilling to me than helping pastors! Spending time investing in church leaders who are giving their lives serving, teaching, and encouraging others is rewarding. Sometimes the encouragers need encouraging! In fact, all of us need to be encouraged, and we all need to be encouragers to others.

Giving encouragement isn’t a complicated activity. It’s simply speaking hope, affirmation and inspiration to someone. It’s a conscious decision to lift someone’s spirit, to let them know that they matter, and to remind them to stay in the game.

Discouragement is a terrible thing. Not only does it make us miserable, it’s also the reason many good things are never attempted or completed. It robs potential and reduces vision. Lack of encouragement has likely held more people back and kept more people down than practically any other emotional weight. Think about all the incredible work that could and would be done if people stayed encouraged. Think about all the times a word of encouragement would keep someone going when they’re tempted to quit.

Encouragement is something you can do. You can become an encourager to others. And it’s worth it! When you lift someone else’s spirit, you lift your own spirit! When you inspire another person, you are inspired! When you cheer someone on, you’re cheered on yourself.

Be an encourager. Find someone who’s ready to quit and spur them on. Write a note to someone who’s disappointed about a failure and tell them that their failure isn’t final. Speak a word of hope to someone who’s hopeless and watch them come to life again!

Be an encourager!

Pastor Dale

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